what happened

The Flyers took their first lead of the game on some nice play between Mike Vigor and Brandon Boggs, as the high-flyer turned down the alley-oop attempt in favour of an easy lay-up for the Australian big-man.

Boggs though did get himself on the board with a three soon after to give Bristol a five point advantage.

A quick 6-0 run for Cheshire soon allowed them to take the lead and force Coach Kapoulas into his first timeout of the game.

A turnover at each end followed the timeout before Cheshire built another run, this time of 7-2 and Cheshire shooting at 70% from the field!

The Flyers continued with turnover troubles as Rohndell Goodwin gave up the ball to Orlan Jackman, slamming the ball down on the fast break.

Alassan Touray’s three soon after further pushed the travelling team’s lead but a Rohndell Goodwin three-point play and three-point shot soon brought Bristol back into the game as Cheshire walked off the court leading 24-28 after one.

An uneventful start in the first two minutes of the second quarter saw Cheshire go on a 6-0 run as the Flyers struggles continued on the offensive end.

Boggs finally got the Flyers going with a lay-up and the assist to Panos Mayindombe but as the crowd got going they were soon silenced once again as Devan Bailey’s smooth jumper dropped for Cheshire.

But the Flyers weren’t the only team with turnover troubles as Cheshire gave up the ball and Leslee Smith’s kick out to Mike Vigor gave him a wide-open three that he was more than happy to shoot, and make.

Jordan Davis’ tip-come-assist gave Brandon Boggs an easy dunk on the fast break as Davis began to hype up the crowd and the Guard’s hustle gave him another assist as he picked up the loose ball, passing to Vigor inside to bring the Flyers to within one.

Jackman, who had just missed a huge dunk attempt, missed two free throws and on the offensive end, Rohndell Goodwin ensured the Flyers took their first lead of the quarter with the put-back lay-up.

Jackman opened the scoring in the second half with a three to quickly draw the sides level but it wasn’t to last long as two Boggs’ finishes in the paint followed a Leslee Smith free throw and put the Flyers back in poll position.

Seven-footer CJ Gettys was easily boxed out by Jordan Davis allowing Goodwin to score for Bristol, taking him into double figures for the evening. And Mike Vigor soon out-battled the Phoenix big-man for another rebound, forcing the Phoenix into a timeout.

Adam Weary attacked the basket as soon as the ball came back into play from the timeout and a series of turnovers gave Daniel Edozie the easy lay-up inside to give the Flyers their first double-figure lead of the game… At least until Bailey for Phoenix drained a three to cut the deficit back down to eight.

Edozie free throws, swish. Back up to ten.

Boggs took the three in the corner - another swish, and Goodwin’s fast-break lay-in put the Flyers in a commanding position with just over a minute to play and Mayindombe soon got in on the action with a three from the other corner. One quarter to play, Bristol up by 13.

The final quarter was looking scrappy and calls were falling the way of the Phoenix. Fortunately for the Flyers though, Cheshire’s free throw shooting was poor with Gettys and May-Thompson making one of four between them.

Devan Bailey’s good shooting night continued for Cheshire as he was able to make another three drop and cut the lead to just three following a good Cheshire run and shortly after he was able to tie the game up at 86. Another three.

Bailey then turned provider as he kicked the ball out to Raheem May-Thompson behind-the-arc to give Cheshire the lead. Timeout Flyers.

Adam Weary came out looking to take the game into his hands with a corner three and a lay-up to cut the deficit and an offensive foul gave the Flyers the ball back with 30 seconds to go and two points to overcome.

With the shot-clock running out it was Mayindombe who was able to hit the long three at the top of the arc and re-gain the Flyers’ lead, by one, with 14 seconds left on the clock.

Robert Sandoval rose in an attempt to break Bristolian hearts but his jumpshot rimmed out with Goodwin able to gather the rebound and he made his two free throws to secure a vital Bristol Flyers win.

Nuffield health player of the game

Next home game

About the contributor

A passionate fan of basketball since 2004, Aaron briefly played at SGS (then Filton College) under Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas.

Fast forward a number of years, Aaron now contributes to recording the statistics for the Flyers home games as a club Statistician, you’ll often find him sat at the table courtside taking stats into his laptop at every home game.

Do you agree with Aaron? Follow him on Twitter @eamer and let him know what you think!